PORTALJABAR, BANDUNG CITY - The Bandung City Government held a High Level Meeting of the Regional Inflation Control Team (TPID) at the Bandung City Hall, Thursday (6/3/2025) to evaluate inflation developments and macroeconomic conditions ahead of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr 1446 H.

In the meeting, Bandung Mayor Muhammad Farhan, highlighted the economic growth of the city of Bandung and steps to maintain the stability of staple food prices.

In 2024, the economy of Bandung City grew by 4.99 percent, slightly slower than the previous year which reached 5.07 percent.

He said that so far the economic growth rate has been at 5 percent, although before the pandemic it had reached 7 percent in 2019.

The three main sectors that dominate economic growth are trade at 26.32 percent, the manufacturing industry at 18.29 percent, and the information and communications sector at 14.09 percent.

"We need to do a deeper analysis to see how Bandung can contribute to the national economic growth target of 8 percent in 2025-2029," said Farhan.

Furthermore, he emphasized the need for a strategy so that the economy of Bandung City can grow higher again.

"Is economic growth at 5 percent enough or can it rise to 6 percent? We must find concrete steps so as not to be left behind," he added.

According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), inflation in Bandung City in February 2024 was recorded as experiencing deflation of -0.50 percent annually (YoY), -0.73 percent monthly (MtM), and -1.61 percent since the beginning of the year (YtD). However, approaching Ramadan, the trend of increasing prices of basic necessities began to appear.

"Too low inflation is also risky because people can suddenly increase spending, thus triggering a price spike. The main driver of the economy is consumption, without consumption the city economy will not grow," Farhan explained.

For this reason, the Bandung City Government will directly monitor four main markets on Sunday morning during sahur to see the price conditions of basic necessities.

"We want to know what the impact of central government policies is and whether the efficiency measures taken are effective enough," he added.

In addition to economic factors, Farhan also highlighted the extreme weather that has occurred since the end of February, which has the potential to affect food supplies.

"Flooding in several national food production areas is a concern in itself. Price stability must be maintained so as not to burden the community," he said.

One of the efforts made is to optimize the Buruan Sae program, namely encouraging people to grow their own food needs such as chilies and onions.

"PKK, DKPP, and regional governments must focus on these commodities to reduce price concerns in the community," he added.

As a strategic step, the government will continue to coordinate with the private sector to ensure production and distribution run efficiently.

"Synergy between stakeholders must be strengthened, both across sectors and regions. The hope is that people can still shop wisely and not be affected by the issue of basic food shortages," he said.

Meanwhile, Head of the Economic Section of the Bandung City Regional Secretariat, Tubagus Agus Mulyadi added that 94.01 percent of Bandung City's food needs are supplied from outside the city, making it very vulnerable to price increases due to supply disruptions.

According to him, based on price monitoring at the end of February, several food commodities began to show an increase, while monthly inflation for the city of Bandung was recorded at 0.73 percent.

"These price fluctuations must be anticipated, especially since public consumption increases during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr," he said. (Bandung City Communication and Information Service/rka)